Bitter Moon (1992)

Whip Lash

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Bitter Moon (1992) is one of director Roman Polanski's most underrated pictures, and a bit atypical, since it deals with the psychological balance between four people instead of just one. Normal British couple Hugh Grant and Kristin Scott Thomas are enjoying a quiet sea cruise together when American writer Peter Coyote begins worming in on their lives, telling Grant the story of his topsy-turvy relationship with the gorgeous French waitress Emmanuelle Seigner. It begins sweetly, but turns dark and violent and manipulative. Polanski tempers his tale by filtering it through Grant, who receives it with a combination of disgust and fascination. The film was not released in American theaters until 1994.